So what should be done with such folks? Let them die?
There but for the grace of God go you and I, hoodat.
That is a form of emotional blackmail long favored by Progressives.
Insurance is not the same as access. Health care services are available for people who need it at any public hospital or emergency room. It's not the greatest care on the planet, but it is far better than that available in most other countries.
People are not dying on the streets in the US because they cannot get treatment, nor would they if we returned to the
status quo ante. Significant sums of money are donated annually to provide care for the indigent, and far more would be, were it not for the crowding out effect of government, largely through Medicaid.
Our health care challenges can all be traced to government and the historical linkage of insurance to employment. No other successful marketplace functions in this manner, and it has resulted over time in artificial, even perverse incentives and the misallocation of scarce resources.
That said, any change to a truly market-based system will require a gradual evolution, the planning for which ought to have been done during the past seven or eight years by Republicans in Congress, but of course, was not, largely because so many of them are risk-averse careerists. Fortunately, practical frameworks for such an evolution are available through conservative policy organizations such as the Heritage Foundation. All they have to do is ask.